1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with the field of cat litter boxes or other types of holding devices. It is conventional for the owner of cat house pets to have a location set aside for the cat including a housing with a granular type litter therein. In this manner it is not necessary to let a cat go outside and cats have been found to be easily domesticated to being completely indoors in this fashion. For this reason the business of providing cat litter and cat litter holding devices has grown greatly over recent years.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many devices have been designed to retain cat litter in a novel fashion such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,886,901; 3,684,155; 3,639,937; 4,164,314. None of these designs shows the unique characteristics of the present invention.
The main designs currently utilized include hard plastic litter boxes wherein the litter is directly poured and perhaps sprayed with a deodorizing powder or liquid. After usage for approximately one week it is necessary to discard the litter and then clean the litter box. This is quite obviously a very messy and unpleasant duty and as such many attempts have been made to create superior systems.
One example of a superior system is the usage of a hard litter box of metal, wood, plastic or any such desirable material in combination with a plastic liner. The litter is placed in the liner which defines a retainer by being placed in the rigid holding device and then only the plastic liner is discarded. Difficulties have arisen with the breaking of such plastic bags and the obvious unpleasant circumstance created thereby. This difficulty is particularly apparent with usage with multiple cats or a single cat over a longer period of time wherein the weight of the litter as it absorbs the liquids becomes significantly greater than originally and this increase in weight has a great tendency to rip the plastic bag when withdrawn from the box. Also the scratching and clawing by cats which is usually associated with usage of the litter box has a tendency to rip the plastic liner over the floor of the litter box resulting in loss of litter or a complete ripping of the plastic liner when removal from the box is attempted. This clawing or just the weight of the cat or the litter tends sometimes to pull the plastic liner off the retaining sidewalls of the litter box. The present invention provides a means for overcoming these prior art difficulties.